C4 Photosynthesis: Differentiating Causation and Coincidence

C4 Photosynthesis: Differentiating Causation and Coincidence

Determination of the historical causes of organismal adaptations is difficult, but a recent study has suggested that at least one of the transitions to C(4) photosynthesis was directly facilitated by changes in atmospheric CO(2) levels. But what about the other 50+ origins of C(4)?

C4 photosynthesis

The question then is how the same neurons convey two different sorts of information. The answer is that motor giants are capable of generating two types of action potentials, small/slow calcium spikes and large/fast sodium spikes, depending on the degree of depolarization it receives. As opposed to the input from the ring giant, the input from the pacemaker is too low to trigger the sodium spik...

Zika and microcephaly: causation, correlation, or coincidence?

C4 cycles: past, present, and future research on C4 photosynthesis.

In the late 1960s, a vibrant new research field was ignited by the discovery that instead of fixing CO(2) into a C(3) compound, some plants initially fix CO(2) into a four-carbon (C(4)) compound. The term C(4) photosynthesis was born. In the 20 years that followed, physiologists, biochemists, and molecular and developmental biologists grappled to understand how the C(4) photosynthetic pathway w...

The inevitability of C4 photosynthesis

Elements of C4 photosynthesis-a complex adaptation that increases photosynthetic efficiency-may have evolved first to correct an intercellular nitrogen imbalance, and only later evolved a central role in carbon fixation.